Monday, May 26, 2014

Are you looking for a character program for younger children? Many parents want to instruct their child with the right tools to become good citizens with Godly character especially in today's world. I have a strong desire to raise my daughter to be a virtuous woman with good character. I started teaching Alyssa about character qualities at a very young age, because I believe children learn a tremendous amount the first five years of their life. As a parent, I also understand that it is my responsibility to teach, raise, and disciple my child using the Bible if that is my wish. It was a blessing and privilege to review Little Lads and Ladies of Virtue written by Kathie Morrissey, the owner of The Character Corner. The Character Corner offers character, purity, courtship, and parenting products. Kathie's well organized curriculum will help your children develop and grow Godly character traits.

Little Lads and Ladies of Virtue is a character curriculum containing scripture-based weekly lessons. You'll receive a 121-page curriculum book giving you at least 6 months worth of planned character training lessons if you teach one character quality five days a week. You can easily extend the lessons if desired. However, extensions are not necessary. The curriculum is designed to be used with preschool and early elementary aged children between the ages of 4-8. It addresses 24 character qualities focusing on one character trait per week. Bible verses related to the character quality are memorized. Each weekly lesson is arranged to be done on a daily basis with minimal prep for approximately 5-10 minutes.

Each lesson follows a similar format which helps your child become familiar with the lesson routine. The weekly curriculum lessons emphasize the definition of one character quality or trait, a related referenced Bible memory verse, three "I Will" statements to commit to their hearts, and a specific prayer. Adaptable object lessons, games, and role play activities are also integrated into the lessons. Alyssa really liked the "Attentiveness" and "Mama Says" games. Little did she know, we always play the "attentiveness" game but I never called it that.

The author recommends that you consistently review older material at least once a week to keep it fresh in their minds. She also encourages you to develop creative ways to make learning memory verses more fun by using motions, drawings, or different intonations. You can also view a sample lesson.

The curriculum consists of acknowledgements, an introduction, lesson instructions, a resource and materials list, color pages, "Something to Crow About" reward chart, and character ribbon badges in addition to the weekly lessons. Most of the materials used for the hands-on object lessons were easily found at home. The acknowledgement list gives other resources credit for ideas utilized. This list also contains website links with additional activity enrichment ideas.

Furthermore, optional manuscript copywork is available for elementary children. The copywork correlates with the curriculum. Your child will have the opportunity to copy the definition, Bible verse, and the three "I Will" statements. The pages reinforce the character quality being taught while your child practices good penmanship skills. If the lines are too small for your older elementary children, then you can always use a lined paper of your choice with or without the dotted help lines.

Character Traits Covered

Attentiveness

Contentment

Courage

Deference

Diligence

Faithfulness

Forgiveness

Gratitude

Helpfulness

Humility

Initiative

Joyfulness

Kindness

Love

Loyalty

Obedience

Orderliness

Perseverance

Respect

Responsibility

Self Control

Truthfulness

Virtue

Wisdom

How We Used The Curriculum Bundle
I must say . . . thanks to the idea of a fellow reviewer on the team, I decided to downloaded the PDF file of the main curriculum book to iBooks on my iPad instead of printing the pages. This made the lessons portable and saved money on ink cost. You can also read the lessons on your computer which is extremely helpful.

I followed the weekly lessons as intended. My six-year-old daughter loved completing the copywork sentences and looked forward to her daily lessons. I asked her to complete one copywork page each day. We could easily complete two pages on busier days. The coloring page was completed on the first day. Alyssa strived to memorize the material before the fifth day and in most cases met that challenge. On many occasions, we would sing the information to be memorized by using familiar tune.

Funny story . . . one day while completing household duties I caught her reciting (singing) the definition, Bible verse, and "I Will" statements in the shower. I was surprised yet thrilled to find out that the curriculum did indeed inspire her to remember what she was learning and hide God's Word in her heart. She was definitely motivated by the ribbon badges too! She felt successful when she accomplished her memorization goals. I really appreciate that the author focused on the character trait opposites while introducing the definition. This helps children understand the meaning of the trait better.

A Glance at Our Weekly ScheduleDay 1
Introduce the definition and scripture memory verse. Color the character quality page and complete the definition copywork page. End with prayer.

Day 2
The beginning of each day begins with a review of what was previously learned. Review definition and memory verse. Introduce the "I Will" statements. Complete the Bible verse copywork page and end the lesson with a prayer.

Day 3
Review definition, memory verse, and "I Will" statements. Introduce any role play scenarios, object lessons, or play games. End with a specific prayer relating to the trait.

Contentment: Is the glass half-full or half-empty?
Alyssa said, "Half-full."

We modified the following fort building "Courage vs. Foolishness" game by using a Disney playhut we already owned. She didn't have an interest in building a fort, but I bet many younger children would. Statements were read aloud. Alyssa made a decision as to whether they revealed foolishness (lack of courage) or if they showed courage.

Courage

Foolishness
(Hiding Behind the Hut)

Looking Ahead: I can't wait to do the object lesson with the egg on Day 4 when discussing forgiveness!

Day 4
Review all information once again. Continue playing games or read books if stated. Complete any new role play activities. Another daily copywork section is completed.

Day 5
The final section of copywork is completed on this day. Review and receive ribbon badge to display on reward chart for memorized concepts. You can store the previously earned badges, but we chose to display them all at once. One of the reviewers created a memorization chart that I hope to make soon! Visit Karen's Tots and Me Facebook page to see her awesome chart creation!

What We Liked

Affordability

Scripture-Based

Simplicity

Minimal Preparation

Object Lessons and Games

Quick Lessons

Well-Organized Weekly Lesson Plans

Possible Improvements
One problem I ran into was with regards to the games that required more than one player such as "David, David, Goliath" which is played like "Duck, Duck, Goose." I wish there were alternative suggestions for those of us teaching only one child, but you can easily adapt the activity to your circumstances. Further into the curriculum, activities such as the Gratitude Circle and the Joyful Bean Bag Toss will be slightly modified for two people. We'll just toss the bean bag bag and forth several times. With that being said, we are thoroughly enjoying and will definitely continue using this curriculum! I have noticed a difference in Alyssa's attitude and have seen her apply the information learned to her life.

Possible Vendor Suggestions

Character Trait Book List

Prayer Journal

Prayer Copywork

Different Colored Ribbon Badges With Colorful Matching Certificates

Cut and Paste Bible Verse Printables

Scripture Charts or Posters

Definition Word Study Notebooking Sheets and Vocabulary Games

Long Term Review Suggestions

Cursive Copywork Option

Would love to see another book covering additional character qualities in the future!

Recommendations
I highly recommend this simple and effective character curriculum to private schools, home educators, preschools, day care facilities, Christian summer camps, after school care, and to families wanting a quick and easy morning Bible devotional to use with their young children. This curriculum was easy to implement and add to any daily routine requiring very little time and preparation each day. I was pleased with the material and short lessons. Kathie Morrissey did an fantabulous job creating a complete character training curriculum for younger children between the ages of 4-8.

Kathie Morrissey has graciously offered to giveaway one DIGITAL copy of her Little Lads and Ladies of Virtue curriculum and copywork to one of my lucky readers. It could be YOU! This giveaway ends June 4th at midnight. Please allow the Rafflecopter giveaway widget time to load in order to enter the giveaway. Thank you!

Disclaimer
I received a complimentary (free) copy of the Little Lads and Ladies of Virtue character training curriculum from the author through the Bow of Bronze Launch and Promotion Team to utilize in exchange for an honest review on my blog. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own. I was also expected to promote the curriculum through social media for the duration of the four-week launch period. I am disclosing this information in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Sunday, May 25, 2014

What's New in Our Life This Week?
It has been a busy week. We have so much going on right now between homeschool, extracurricular classes, family activities, purging belongings, preparing for my niece's visit, writing reviews, and reading everything in sight.

Where We Went . . .
We went to the theater to see Heaven is for Real. It was a great family movie! Yep, I cried.

We went to see Pinocchio at the Magik Theater in San Antonio. It was funny.

Bible and History
Character Training- We started a new character training curriculum called Little Lads and Ladies of Virtue. The review will hopefully post tomorrow or sometime this week. The ease of use is a sweet blessing. Thankfully, it is scripture-based. We are discussing the Bible verses that she memorizes.

Art
We have been using Classical Composers Monthly and several different art DVD's. Check out Alyssa's turtle drawing!

Language Arts: Writing, Grammar, Spelling

Grammar - Alyssa has been reviewing adjectives, nouns, adverbs, articles, commas, and verbs while integrating that knowledge into her poetry and writing assignments. She also completed the second grade (added components) to the IXL program. Months ago they added new material, but the entire grade level has been completed again. She is zipping through the third grade language arts.

Poetry - We are still having a blast writing poetry! I posted Alyssa's Acrostic and Cinquain poems if you are interested in reading them and seeing what we did. She is currently working on a Father's Day poem. She plans on writing my niece each day during her visit next week.

Spelling - I was contacted by Spelling You See. I was offered the chance to review their brand new spelling curriculum. We chose Americana and it recently arrived in the mail! We started the third lesson. Things are going smoothly. We became familiar with the method quickly. The review will post in August.

Simple Schooling Classroom
Alyssa has been reviewing material in her Let's Learn About Bug units. She actually completed both bug units and started learning about mammals too. She recently learned about the botfly. Gross!!!! I visited several You Tube videos to learn more and was disgusted. Have you ever heard of a botfly? Check out the following videos. Please watch videos BEFORE allowing your children to view them.

Literature and Science
Since Alyssa completed her phonics curriculum early, we've been SLOWLY working through her Black Beauty literature and horse lapbooks. We are both eager to begin a new literature lapbook. Her chapter summaries are improving. She is focusing more on the important chapter ideas.

This week we talked about plot. She's trying to write a summary by focusing on the beginning, middle, and end key events. She also answers comprehension questions after reading non-fiction passages from a teaching resource book. I have her mark the evidence for the answers in the passage.

She's been learning about horse care, training, horse uses, horses power, and this week we also discussed horse breeds.

These resources have kept us busy for a long time. I can't believe Alyssa is still interested in learning about horses. We only have one more page to complete in the HOAC project pack. We talked about Chapter 44 today. There are 49 chapters in the book so we still have a bit more to do.

Our Nature Finds

Back Porch Nest
The mama is VERY protective and attentive!

Can you see the bird?

On Our Front Door

Outside the Classroom Door

Looking for Food

Math

I am confident that my daughter has a strong foundation in Math - thanks to Math-U-See! She's been multiplying three and four digit numbers by three digit numbers. Word problems have been easier. She knows the difference between prime and composite numbers now. She completed GAMMA!!!

Alyssa is also using A+ Interactive Math Online (2nd grade) as a review to maintain skills. She's completed the 11th chapter test with a 100%. She's been working on geometry concepts, equivalent fractions, and algebraic expressions. Here is my review of the 1st grade online curriculum if you are interested in reading about our experiences.

She also hit a Dreambox Math milestone months ago. She is currently working on 3-5th grade concepts and completed the K-2nd grade curriculum levels. We are using this program less and less since they changed the program.

She started using Ten Marks Math this week. I am having a difficult time getting her off the computer now. She seems to be motivated by the certificates, percentages, rewards, characters, and points. See the link below for a special FREEBIE deal!!!!!

One of Alyssa's favorite subjects is Math - can you tell?

Extracurricular Activities

She attended her weekly piano and dance classes. They are practicing dances and recital songs in preparation for the June recitals. Alyssa received her second costume which is adorable. We found out the dance company wants the children to wear make-up and no under garments. Jeff and I decided that Alyssa will not be wearing make-up and will be wearing her undies. They do a clothing change in between performances and we aren't comfortable with the "no panties" rule since we aren't allowed in the back to help. Her last dance class is the performance so we are looking into summer physical activities now.

Her piano teacher started giving her two songs to learn each week. She also asked Alyssa to play a solo song at the recital a couple weeks ago. Yesterday, she announced her decision to perform a solo! YAH! I'm thankful that her confidence with the song has gone up. She also has several more weeks to practice it.

Whew . . . that's just a small sample of what's going on in school here!

What We're Reading

She finished reading Magic Treehouse Station Starlight, Horse Heroes, Horse Diaries Elska, Horse Diaries Maestoso Petra, Horse Diaries Koda in addition to a zillion other horse books. I requested Susan Marlow's Circle C Beginning Series and thankfully the library bought them. Alyssa and I finished the first book and we are more than halfway through the second one. We are reading these books aloud since I've heard so much about them. THANK YOU Tye Preston Library! Here is a pic of a few books she's reading.

Alyssa has also been reading through the set of books we won written by Carol P. Roman too. She sent us the pirate book series, the yoga book and mat, and her "If You Were Me and Lived In . . . " series as a giveaway prize. My favorite is the geography series! Thank you Carol Roman! It is truly a blessing.

Speaking of books check out a recent deal I came across for only $5. The Alice in Wonderland book alone was being sold for $5 a couple weeks ago, but I was able to snatch all of these books for the same price. Now . . . where do I store them?

What I'm Listening To . . .
I'm listening to Kari Jobe, Jamie Grace, and my new favorite Carly Rose Soneclar. I have been listening to many X Factor performances by amazing singers. Let's just say I've cried a few times this week!

What We're Baking . . .

We made moist and sweet banana nut bread. I froze two mini loaves to pull out during my niece's visit next week.

Homeschool Giveaways and Freebies Worth Checking OutTenMarks Math Program - They are offering a FREE summer Math program. I signed Alyssa up! She took the assessment and made a 100% for that particular grade level. She's reviewing concepts and skills using different approaches and methods. We are really liking this program. It's a nice change for the summer. They have concept videos, a reward system that can be customized, certificates, and games. She's asking to use it during her free time.

Friday, May 23, 2014

We have been using Little Lads and Ladies of Virtue for a couple of weeks. Little Lads and Ladies of Virtue is a character curriculum designed for preschool through early elementary aged children. I am VERY thankful that the curriculum requires minimal prep and can be completed in a short amount of time each day. The curriculum addresses 24 character qualities covering one trait each week. You’ll have access to at least 6 months of weekly character lessons. The Little Lads and Ladies of Virtue curriculum provides you with a character trait definition, memory verse, and 3 “I Will” statements to focus on each week. The complete curriculum lessons include object lessons, games, role playing opportunities, color pages, ribbon badges, a reward chart, and a prayer related to the trait. Furthermore, manuscript copywork pages were created to correlate with the curriculum.

I am telling you all this because Little Lads and Ladies of Virtue is included in the following GRAND PRIZE GIVEAWAY. The package of products that will bless ONE winner has a retail cost worth over $318. What a generous giveaway!

I can personally tell you that my memberships to Notebookingpages.com and MomsToolbelt.com have been absolute lifesavers this year. We also use A Journey Through Learning lapbooks to complement our Science, History, Geography, and Literature lessons quite often. I've had many positive experiences using the high quality Homeschool Copywork ebooks and notebooking pages created by Amy Blevins. She offers her products in several handwriting styles covering a variety of topics.

Thank you for joining our team as we celebrate the launch of Little Lads and Ladies of Virtue! You can view and download a sample lesson from the book by clicking on the link above. This giveaway will truly bless ANY homeschool family! Be sure to enter it now so that you don’t forget later.

As members of the launch team, we are so excited to bring you this giveaway to celebrate the release of Little Lads and Ladies of Virtue.

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Alyssa drew this adorable turtle after viewing a drawing tutorial using Mike's Inspiration Station Volume 2. My daughter has been using the entire set since Christmas. Her drawings always amaze me - this is one of my favorite drawings! I am most grateful that we won this set. I have definitely seen my daughter's drawings improve. I wish I had access to products like this when I was a child. Alyssa used her Mr. Sketch markers to color it.

Friday, May 16, 2014

If you've been reading my blog lately, then you know that we did a lot of poetry writing in April for National Poetry Month. I try my best to integrate subjects whenever possible. Alyssa was taught how to write a cinquain poem. She took the poem through the entire writing process.

What is a Cinquain Poem?

I used a poetry poster to introduce the term "cinquain."

Features or Steps to Write a Cinquain:

It is a five line poem.

1st line is the noun or subject of the poem.

2nd line consists of two adjectives that describe the noun.

3rd line contains three (-ing) action verbs describing the noun.

4th line is a four word feeling phrase.

5th line is another noun that relates to, is associated with, or is a synonym of the noun.

The 1-2-3-2-1 pattern will help you remember the format for writing the poem.

Note: Please understand that there are different types of cinquain poems. I have seen another version that emphasizes the number of syllables.

I decided to integrate technology into her poetry writing assignment. I asked her to type her poem into a Pages document. Then, she needed to add a clipart image to the poem. We did this together.

Here is a copy of the final draft of her cinquain horse poem. Alyssa (Age 6) titled it, "A Love for Horses." She submitted this poem as one of her two entries into the Children's Poetry Celebration and Contest in April. Click on the link to read the winning entries for each age group.

We recently found out that her horse poem won first place for her age group (4-6). Yah Alyssa! Way to Go Baby Girl! I'm so proud of your accomplishment! She won a Starter Fossil Kit from Discover with Dr. Cool and a Little Blast Magnet Blast kit. We also received a copy of the Poetry Guide from BraveWriter. Her "Easter Morning" poem made the runner up list for first place in her age group.

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL OF THE VENDORS AND THOSE INVOLVED IN CREATING THIS EVENT. WE HAD A BLAST PARTICIPATING!

Saturday, May 10, 2014

April was National Poetry Month. We spent the entire month learning about and writing different types of poetry. One of the poetry formats that Alyssa (Age 6) enjoyed was acrostic poetry. She wrote acrostic poems last year as part of her Moving Beyond the Page literature unit study about Avi's book titled, "Poppy." You can read my Moving Beyond the Page review here. It was a lot of fun! When I taught in the public schools, the children in my class would always write a name acrostic poem at the beginning of the year.

Here's What Alyssa and I Did:

We read examples of acrostic poems in books and online. Most of the examples came from the Internet.

I modeled how to write an acrostic poem using Alyssa's suggestions. We chose "God" and "Joseph" as two separate Bible topics. I showed her how to add details and descriptive words to one of our poems in order to make it sound better. We also corrected any errors. This was NOT done in ONE sitting. It was broken into steps over several days.

I told her that she was going to have the opportunity to write her own acrostic poem.

I helped Alyssa brainstorm a list of possible topics for her own poem. Many of the topics chosen were based on interesting people or events she was learning about in school. This is a great way to integrate school subjects into writing lessons.

After choosing a topic, I gave her several books related to the topic to read. This helps with the brainstorming process when listing possible words related to the topic. She read several books about The Easter Story.

She began the brainstorming process - writing ideas down for each letter in the topic word EASTER.

Alyssa wrote her rough draft the next day. She eagerly started editing and revising the poem.

I reminded her to add descriptive words when possible. She clarified any confusing sentences that didn't flow easily. She checked the poem for punctuation and spelling errors. She would often use the books she read to help with spelling. For example, the word "ascended" was very difficult to spell but part of the word was in the book. Once she had the beginning of the word, she checked the dictionary for the correct spelling.

The final draft of her acrostic poem was written on a different day. I discussed the purpose of poem titles. She jotted down a few of her ideas for titles and decided which one she liked the most. She added the title "Easter Morning" to her poem.

The last step for writing acrostic poems is to add drawings or illustrations. I told her that the illustrations must relate to and add more meaning to the poem. First, I check our Draw Write Now books to see if there is a step-by-step drawing tutorial for her topic. If not, I will google online drawing tutorials specific to her topic.

Alyssa recently submitted her Easter acrostic poem titled, Easter Morning," into a poetry contest. I absolutely LOVE this poem and appreciate how much time she put into writing it. Her final draft was written on raised primary lined paper. She colored, cut out, and glued the picture of Jesus to the page instead of adding an illustration.

Another acrostic poem she wrote was about George Washington. I modeled a poem about Abraham Lincoln using the same teaching steps. After completing her final draft and reading several more books about George Washington, she realized that she should have used the word "Revolutionary War" for the letter "R" in his name. She wanted to erase the entire line. I told her that she could write another poem about him later using any new information. I love integrating subjects! As you can see we can easily integrate Reading, Bible, and History subjects into Writing Poetry. We will often choose Science topics when writing poetry.

Copyright Note: These are original poems written by my six-year-old daughter. Please do not claim them as your own. All content is copyrighted. You must have permission to use the content on this blog.

Thursday, May 8, 2014

I wanted to share our Easter Egg Countdown activity with you today. Yes, I know . . . Easter is done and over with, but you can always prepare or use this simple idea next year. I love using books as countdowns. You could even place the books in your thematic or monthly book baskets if you use them. This book list is in no particular order. You can start shopping now while these items may still be on sale.

Easter Egg CountdownFirst, I typed and printed a list of our Easter books. I cut each strip and placed it into a plastic egg. Each day leading up to Easter, my daughter opened an egg and we read the book aloud.

Follow Me on Twitter

Follow this blog with bloglovin

Follow this blog with bloglovin

Followers

Grab My Blog Button!

Follow by Email

About Me

I am a stay at home mom to my daughter, Alyssa. I taught 2nd grade for three years after earning my Masters Degree in Education. I love teaching! But, I am enjoying every moment I have at home with my daughter. I enjoy seeing her learn new things through exploration and play. I am always on the search for new, fun ways to enhance her learning experience. We are an eclectic homeschool family. Please enjoy browsing this blog.